Man Shot in Russian Roulette

St. Petersburg Police say a man was shot while playing a game of Russian Roulette this weekend, at 1110 32 Ave. N.

Police said they were originally told Donnie McLendon, 26, was shot during a robbery but later learned from witnesses that McLendon and two other men were playing Russian Roulette. 

According to police, on Saturday morning at about 2:15 a.m., officers responded to a call about a person shot. Upon arrival, police said they found the house vacant with a trail of blood leading from inside the house to the outside. Marijuana and drug paraphernalia were evident inside as well.

A few moments after their arrival a report was received that a man had been brought to St. Anthony's Hospital with a bullet wound to the head, police said.

Officers arrived at the hospital where the victim was being treated by emergency room staff. According to police, he was later transported to Tampa General Hospital and was last listed in critical condition.

Two other individuals at the hospital were interviewed and identified as Daniel Mckee, 22 and Thomas Rady, 29. According to the police report, both men said that they had been at 1110 32 Avenue North with McLendon early that morning and that they had been drinking and smoking marijuana together. Mckee advised that he was house-sitting at the residence for a friend who was out of town.

The report said McKee and Rady claimed that while sitting in the living room of the home, a male suspect entered the house armed with a gun in an apparent home invasion robbery. They claimed the gun discharged once and struck McLendon in the head. Rady said the he jumped up and bumped the suspect who dropped the gun and fled the house.

Mckee, Rady and Mckee's girlfriend, who was sleeping in another room at the time of the incident, picked up McLendon and carried him out to Mckee's car and drove him to the hospital, police said.

After detectives arrived to conduct follow-up interviews with two witnesses, police said they admitted that their initial account had been fabricated and that McLendon had suffered a single gunshot wound to his head as a result of a game of Russian Roulette using a .44 caliber handgun loaded with one live round.

According to the two, Mckee had provided the gun and single bullet while also taking part in the Roulette first. Then Rady took a turn only to then provide the gun to McLendon, who suffered the self inflicted gunshot wound.

The firearm was recovered along with a single spent casing from under the front seat of Mckee's car at the hospital, police said.

Police said no charges have been filed in this case as yet and the investigation is still ongoing.